1. Judgment of the Court, Van Gend & Loos, Case 26-62 Tea Tafaj
EU LEGAL INTEGRATION
Judgment of the Court, Van Gend & Loos, Case 26-62
Tea Tafaj

2. What is the Van Gend En Loos case?
Van Gend en Loos, a postal and transportation company, imported urea-formaldehyde from West Germany to the Netherlands. The Dutch customs authorities charged them a tariff on the import.

3. Van Gend En Loos objected on paying the tariff arguing that it was against EU law.
Although he did end up paying the full
Tariff as requested by the border police,
he later pursued the case in court.
Was the border police mistaken? Well,
not really. On the date of importation,
the product in question was classified in heading
39.01-a-1 of the tariff of import duties listed in
the ‘Tariefbesluit’. On this basis, the Dutch revenue authorities applied an Ad valorem import duty of 8 % to the importation in question

4. BUT…
On 1 January 1958, the date on which the EEC Treaty entered into force, aminoplasts in emulsion were classified under heading 279-a-2 of the tariff in the ‘Tariefbesluit’ of 1947, and charged with an ad valorem import duty of 3 %. In the ‘Tariefbesluit’ which entered into force on 1 March 1960, heading 279-a-2 was replaced by heading a, which contained only aminoplasts in aqueous emulsions, dispersions or solutions, and in respect of which import duty was fixed at 8%.
Article 12 of the Treaty of Rome (now replaced by Article 30 TFEU) stated:
"Member States shall refrain from introducing between themselves any new customs duties on imports and exports or any charges having equivalent effect, and from increasing those which they already apply in their trade with each other."

5. Poor border police officer
Simplifying the case: IT IS NOT REALLY ABOUT THE TARIFF ON A TYPE OF PLASTIC.
National law says one thing, EU articles say another thing. What is an honest working police officer to do? In fact what is every citizen to do? Which authority do we operate under?

6. The Tariefcommissie argued that :
as the Netherlands had, for the most part, complied with Article 12 (by generally reducing and abolishing tariffs), their exceptional increase in the tariff on urea-formaldehyde should be overlooked
that the Treaty was an agreement between Member States, and as the importers were obviously not parties to the Treaty, they had no locus standi..

7. BUT WAIT… (So many plot twists)
EU is not just an agreement between member states. Citizens of member states are also citizens of EU and must abide EU laws and regulations. They are (directly or indirectly) affected and it is up to each government to make sure that its laws comply with EU regulation. It is after all a Supranational organization.

8. The final decision
“The result is first that the effect of Community law on the internal law of Member Stares cannot be determined by internal law but only by Community law, further that the national courts are bound to apply directly the rules of Community law and finally that the national court is bound to ensure that the rules of Community law prevail over conflicting national laws even if they are passed later.”

9. Why do we care about this guy getting richer?
Introduced the doctrine of direct effect
Made EEC more concerned about people within the member states
Created a criteria which a treaty article had do fall under in order to be directly applicable
Ensured that the states would be liable for not implementing EU laws that give citizens certain rights.

10. Direct Effect of European Union Law
In European Union law, direct effect is the principle that Union law may, if appropriately framed, confer rights on individuals which the courts of member states of the European Union are bound to recognize and enforce.
The EU article provision had to be:
clear,
negative (a negative rather than a positive obligation)
unconditional,
containing no reservation on the part of the member state, and
not dependent on any national implementing measure

11. YAY FOR INTEGRATION
*representation of EU

12. Political Integration and Legal Integration
The integration in a political sense and the political integration are relating to the social sciences in broader sense, and narrowly to the political and economic sciences. The meaning of integration in a political sense, could be identified with uniting, unifying, organizing in a group of two or more units. The main point in this integrating activity is the process of delegating the autonomy of the political units to the newly formed political community.
Integration of the legal system is the clearest manifestation of supranationalism. European law has “direct effect” in national jurisdictions (applies even if it has not been incorporated into domestic laws). It also has supremacy over conflicting domestic laws.